Heated steering wheel

[vics]

Gang;

Love my Texas acquired 2013 X5M however, I ride the non-maintained roads and 6 months of weather misery known as 'New England'.

That stated, Mr. prior owner opted out of heated steering wheel & heated back seats due to a much warmer climate.
I'd love to get this beast's steering wheel heated & I assume its a complete heated wheel with integral button swap out however, will my underlying wire harness be a plug and play?

Much appreciated!

[Nkponder]

You'll have to buy a new steering wheel.

BTW, I'm pretty sure the heated steering was not an available option on the X5M.

[Colodano]

Originally Posted by Nkponder

You'll have to buy a new steering wheel.

BTW, I'm pretty sure the heated steering was not an available option on the X5M.

It definitely was an option, mine has it, along with the heated rear seats.

Only time those rear seat heaters have been used was actually down in Texas a couple years ago!

[quick]

Mine has the heated steering (gets toasty too)/front and rear heated seats too. It won't be cheap to retrofit the steering wheel if possible at all.

[sunny_j]

I installed an X5m steering wheel in my X5d and it doesn't nearly get warm like the sport wheel did. I wouldn't waste my money on trying to find a heated X5m wheel

[Huz-Z]

My 2012 Canadian spec X5 (non M) has a heated wheel and on cold days here, it gets toasty warm and makes the car a joy to drive. In fact, there are times I thought it might get a bit too warm. If a heated X5M wheel doesn't get very warm, perhaps due to the thicker padding on the M wheel, why not look at a heated wheel from a non M X5?

[95wildtt]

Originally Posted by vics

Gang;

Love my Texas acquired 2013 X5M however, I ride the non-maintained roads and 6 months of weather misery known as 'New England'.

That stated, Mr. prior owner opted out of heated steering wheel & heated back seats due to a much warmer climate.
I'd love to get this beast's steering wheel heated & I assume its a complete heated wheel with integral button swap out however, will my underlying wire harness be a plug and play?

Much appreciated!

Hi,
This is from another E70 forum, but goes into detail on the heated steering wheel retrofit, FYI.
https://xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/...rofit-diy.html

John

[pearlpower]

My 2010 has both heated steering wheel and rear seats. The steering wheel gets warm enough during 30-40 degree weather, but does not get very hot, in case someone is looking to boil their hands. Good enough for me as it removes the cold bite.

[Lunker325]

I’ve retrofitted a heated steering wheel into an e39 540, an e39 M5, and into my current e90 M3. The link above details the parts and process well. Cliff notes are that you need a heated wheel that shares the same buttons/functions of your car, you need a clock spring with the additional wiring for the heat function, font half connects to the wheel. Lastly, you need to wire the back half of the clock spring to switched power in the car.

Interestingly, I put a heated X5M wheel into my e90 m3 before I got my X5M, everything works perfectly including the M button and the paddle shifters. Even the airbag from the M3 fits into the X5M wheel, so didn’t need to buy one. The diameter of the wheel is a bit larger than the stock M3 wheel, so i swap it in and out seasonally. Doesn’t seem to get as hot as the X5M, but still worth it.

[quick]

Originally Posted by Lunker325

I’ve retrofitted a heated steering wheel into an e39 540, an e39 M5, and into my current e90 M3.

Would it be the same process to retrofit heating in an E60 530i with a sport steering wheel?

[Dave00]

Originally Posted by Nkponder

You'll have to buy a new steering wheel.

BTW, I'm pretty sure the heated steering was not an available option on the X5M.

Wrong, have it on my 2013 X5M.

[michaelo123!]

It is definitely an option, I have it. It is not hot, but warm enough.

[Lunker325]

Originally Posted by quick

Would it be the same process to retrofit heating in an E60 530i with a sport steering wheel?

I would think so, you would just need to find the appropriate e60 parts I mentioned above, then wire it into switched power.

[YoungDinosaur]

Just wanted to say that I absolutely love our heated steering wheel. It’s worth the upgrade cost.

[radial]

@vics

Just done this on my 40d E71 X6.

Quite a few heated wheels for E70 / E71 available on eBay. Thats where I got mine. Make sure you get one that still has the little black or white control unit in the bottom of the wheel.

The actual retrofit isn't too hard.

The problem you will have is finding the coil spring / slip ring that allows pass through of the power for the heated wheel.

Parts you'll need...
- Heated wheel with the control unit (not sure of pn for the M version but check realoem.com - it's also different if you have the lane departure warning system... then it will be a nightmare to find the wheel)
- The steering wheel buttons with the heater control (try to get the wheel with them already)
- Coil spring cartridge with the 12-pin connector pn 6131 9179522
- 12-pin connector for back of slip ring pn 61136954518
- Some pins for the above pn 61131393724 (you'll need 5 to do it properly and connect to the AC system)
- An 4 pole SPST relay to connect it correctly in the front junction box
- A fuse tap
- Some different coloured wires as per the diagram (20awg for the signals and 18awg for power)
- General supplies like heat shrink tubing, felt tape, etc

I think thats it. Don't take it as gospel though, I'm doing this from a scrap of notes.
I'll try to find the guide that someone else wrote that I used as a starting point and post that also.

A couple of things to note.....
- IMPORTANT - disconnect the battery and leave for 15 mins before you start messing with the airbag. don't reconnect until airbag back in place otherwise you will get an error code.
- IMPORTANT - mark the splines on the wheel and steering column so you know exactly where to put it back and don't turn the coil spring around without it being in place (new ones come with a brake tab to keep them secure)
- Make sure the arrows are aligned on your steering angle sensor and the tab on the new coil spring goes into the slot.

Wiring diagram is here...
https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/e...ing/1Vnc58VcGg

For the 12pin connector at the back of the wheel you will need to take existing pins from the 6pin connector and put them into the new 12pin.
1 through 6 move over to their counterparts 1 through 6 on the new connector. Then add in pin 7 goes to ground behind the hood release, 9 to a +12 supply via the relay from the F12 position in the front fuse box using a mini fuse tap, and 12 goes to the AC system.

Hope that lot helps!

[JDAURIA]

Originally Posted by Lunker325

I’ve retrofitted a heated steering wheel into an e39 540, an e39 M5, and into my current e90 M3. The link above details the parts and process well. Cliff notes are that you need a heated wheel that shares the same buttons/functions of your car, you need a clock spring with the additional wiring for the heat function, font half connects to the wheel. Lastly, you need to wire the back half of the clock spring to switched power in the car.

Interestingly, I put a heated X5M wheel into my e90 m3 before I got my X5M, everything works perfectly including the M button and the paddle shifters. Even the airbag from the M3 fits into the X5M wheel, so didn’t need to buy one. The diameter of the wheel is a bit larger than the stock M3 wheel, so i swap it in and out seasonally. Doesn’t seem to get as hot as the X5M, but still worth it.

I need to do this for my E90 M3. I don't even have heated seats...

[radial]

JDNY516 I think you need to do both!

Winter in the UK can be cold so heated seats are an absolute dream... the heated wheel will cap it off nicely.

If you're swapping seats though I would see if you can find some ventilated comfort seats... much harder to find but then you get loads of adjustment, heating and cooling for the summer.

[JDAURIA]

Originally Posted by radial

JDNY516 I think you need to do both!

Winter in the UK can be cold so heated seats are an absolute dream... the heated wheel will cap it off nicely.

If you're swapping seats though I would see if you can find some ventilated comfort seats... much harder to find but then you get loads of adjustment, heating and cooling for the summer.

I have Heated seats front, rear and steering wheel on my X5. I really want ventilated seats but I have yet to see them in a X5 with cinnamon brown leather

M3 no heat at all :/

[radial]

Originally Posted by JDNY516

I have Heated seats front, rear and steering wheel on my X5. I really want ventilated seats but I have yet to see them in a X5 with cinnamon brown leather

M3 no heat at all :/

Yea I've only seen the cream/white or black and even then they are a nightmare to find.... too expensive at the dealer so obviously not a lot of people had them